USA > Michigan > Branch County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan > Part 19
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In 1873 A. J. Aldrich and Company bought the Republican. Mr. A. J. Aldrich, who was born in Girard township and whose grandfather built the first mill on the site of Hodunk, is yet living in Coldwater. He was in- terested in the Republican as editor or proprietor until 1893. The enterprise of the new firm was manifested in the issue, August 3, 1875, of the first number of the " Semi-Weekly Republican," the first newspaper in Branch county to break away from the once-a-week issue. The paper was enlarged on December 3, 1875. The Republican continued as the leading Republican newspaper for many years, and for many reasons is the best known of former Coldwater papers. It continued to hold a place in the field of active and enterprising journalism until 1897, when it was consolidated with the Courier, and its history is practically a part of the following account of the Courier.
The Courier.
The history of the Coldwater Courier dates from November 4, 1882, when the first number. a large size folio, was issued with the names of W. G. Moore and P. P. Nichols. Mr. Moore, who is still a resident of Coldwater, was connected with this paper as city editor for about twenty years, until he was succeeded by Mr. H. F. Bailey, the present city editor. In Decem- ber, 1885, the Courier became an eight-page paper, and at various times the size of the page was changed to conform to the needs of the publishers.
The next change of proprietorship to be noted from an examination of the files occurred in November, 1888, when J. N. Foster became the asso- ciate of Mr. Moore, the firm being known as Foster and Moore. September 28, 1889. they announced the sale of the Courier to C. H. Newell and C. W. Owen. Mr. Newell had been connected with the Wabash, Indiana, Plain Dealer, and Mr. Owen came from Bronson, where he had been editor and publisher of the Herald. This partnership continued until September 27, 1890, when Mr. Newell went to other fields, and Mr. Owen then conducted the paper alone until April 2, 1892, when we again find over the editorial column the names Newell and Owen. A little more than a year, and on April 8, 1893, the Courier was published by Mr. Owen and Major G. H. Turner. September 1, 1894, Mr. Newell took the place of Mr. Owen, and for more than six years these gentlemen remained in partnership. Since February 22, 1901, Mr. C. H. Newell has been sole proprietor.
March 23, 1897, a consolidation was effected of two of Branch county's well known journals. On that date Newell and Turner bought the Cold- water Republican, and three days later the issue appears with the title " The Courier and Republican." Although generally known as simply the Courier,
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this combined title remained until April 30, 1906, when the second part of the heading was dropped.
Beginning with the issue of November 24, 1899, the Courier and Republican was enlarged to twelve pages a week instead of ten, and was issued in two parts-four pages on Tuesday and eight on Friday. On July 7, 1902. the Courier became a daily paper, and was so continued through the political campaign of that year until December Ist, when the number of weekly issues was reduced to three, or, to quote its own statement, it is published " every other day."
The Reporter.
The Daily Reporter of Coldwater was founded as the result of a spon- taneous interest in journalism combined with the means to gratify that interest without the large outlay for plant and equipment needed by the modern newspaper. The late Mr. S. B. Kitchel had for several years before the establishment of the Reporter conducted a considerable plant to supply the printing required for a very extensive system of advertising. A regular force was employed in this department, and the machinery and type assort- ment were quite equal to the publishing of a periodical paper.
It was during the early winter of 1895-96 when, to avoid a shut-down of the printing plant during the usually dull period in that department, it was deemed expedient to start a daily paper. Accordingly on the 16th of December, 1895, the first number of the Daily Reporter appeared, with S. B. Kitchel as publisher. At the time there was no intention to continue the enterprise beyond the holiday season, when the business printing would again make full demands on the establishment. But the Daily Reporter seemed to fill an important place in the city and county. The people were pleased with the new journal, and the publisher was satisfied with his new departure in business. So the Reporter continued to be issued daily, and has maintained an uninterrupted record in this respect to the present time. As a financial investment the Reporter was not a dividend-maker for several years. In fact Mr. Kitchel is reported to have said, "I do not want any money out of the Reporter. Keep the balance just enough on the right side to be sure not to lose money, and give the people all the news they will pay for." The personal satisfaction he got in maintaining a daily paper in Cold- water was more important to its publisher than financial returns.
After the Daily Reporter had been in existence about a year a weekly issue was established, and then on March 15, 1898, the Semi-Weckly Re- porter began its first volume. Mr. S. B. Kitchel continued in active control of the paper until his death in July, 1905, since which time his son Horace has been publisher.
The mechanical equipment of the Reporter office is not excelled in southern Michigan west of Detroit. To guard against delays the important machinery has been duplicated, so that there are two engines, dynamos, two folding machines, three job presses, a large cylinder press, and recently there has been installed a Cox Duplex newspaper press with a capacity equal to
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all the demand that many years of increase may make. All the regular news- paper composition is done by linotype, there being two of these machines in the office. The foreman of the press room is Harry W. Barber, who has been connected with this department in various capacities for ten years.
Of the city editors of the Reporter there should be named Charles Segur, until recently with the Hudson Gasette; A. J. Aldrich, now retired ; Willis Bailey. now in the job printing business in Coldwater; Harry Bailey, now city editor of the Courier; James J. Hudson, now with the Jackson Citizen, and A. Riley Crittenden.
Of the general character of the Reporter as a newspaper and in its rela- tions to the community, it may be stated that it has been conducted inde- pendently as to political and general affairs. It should also be said that its columns have always been open to the individual citizen, and contributions to its pages have come from a large number of local writers covering a wide variety of topics.
The Sun and Star.
The Coldwater Sun is one of the papers of the county with a continuous existence of a quarter of a century. It was established in ISSI, its first publisher being Mr. C. J. Thorp, still a resident of Coldwater. After Mr. Thorp the principal management of the Sun passed into the hands of Mr. WV. C. Bailey.
September 24, 1891. the Sun Publishing Co., was organized and in- corporated, with a capital stock of five thousand dollars. all paid in. The original stockholders were well known men of Branch county, the articles of incorporation being signed by Gen. J. G. Parkhurst, Judge J. B. Shipman, Rev. Henry Hughes, C. E. Barlow, A. E. Blackman, Gilbert Hoopengarner, C. Mckay, of Quincy ; W. B. Downer. H. D. Pessell, of Quincy. The first directors of the company were H. D. Pessell, president; C. E. Barlow, vice president ; J. G. Parkhurst, secretary and treasurer. Mr. A. E. Blackman was the principal stockholder, and two days after the organization of the company the plant was leased to A. E. Blackman and Son, who published the paper. In June, 1892, H. C. Blackman, the son, and now of the Hills- dale Democrat, succeeded to the management of the paper. The next change occurred June 14, 1892, when C. A. White became owner of most of the stock and took the lease from Mr. Blackman. The next lessee of the plant and publisher was Mr. H. A. Bates, who conducted the Sun from April 26, 1894, until June 15, 1903.
On the latter date Mr. J. S. Evans came into control of the stock. The Sun Publishing Company is still a corporation, but Mr. Evans is virtual owner and has entire control of the management and policy of the paper. The present directors of the company are J. S. Evans, president: Mrs. Carrie E. Eigenherr, vice president ; Nellie F. Evans, treasurer, and Robert G. Evans, secretary.
On June 15, 1892, a number of Branch county citizens associated them- selves under articles of incorporation as the Star Publishing Company. The
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authorized capital was five thousand dollars, but only about a fourth of the stock was issued. The incorporators comprised a long list of well known names in Coldwater and vicinity, and the first directors were D. D. Pretty, president; DeWitt C. Shaw, Rev. E. O. Smith, E. E. Bostwick, of Union City, and Lancaster Coffman. These men founded the Coldwater Star as a Prohibition newspaper. It has since remained the official organ of that movement in Branch county, opposing the liquor business either through the formation of public opinion or through political means or in whatever way the fight is carried on.
Mr. W. C. Bailey was employed as the manager and editor of the Star, at first on a salary basis, and later took the entire business management. Mr. J. S. Evans was one of the original stockholders of the enterprise, had acted as legal adviser of the company, and on July 12, 1899, he took the management of the paper. Mr. Evans has since published the Star, and after acquiring control of the Sun, as above mentioned, he continued both papers as independent publications until December, 1905, when he joined the two papers into the nature of a semi-weekly, issuing the Star on Monday and the Sun on Thursday.
OTHER COLDWATER PAPERS.
Several other newspapers have had a more or less brief and influential career in Coldwater. After the passing of the old Sentinel, the next Demo- cratic organ in the county was the Democratic Union, published from 1859 to 1861 by J. L. Hackstaff. In 1864 the Coldwater Union Sentinel, Demo- cratic but loyal to the Union, was established by F. V. Smith and W. G. Moore, they purchasing the plant of the ephemeral Southern . Michigan- News, which had been published for a short time in 1863 by T. G. Turner. Smith and Moore continued the publication of the Sentinel until 1870, and Gibson brothers were the publishers until the plant was burned and the paper suspended.
In 1872 the old Coldwater Reporter was started, as an independent paper, by the late J. S. Conover. It passed through several proprietorships, Mr. C. J. Thorpe, now of Coldwater, having been connected with it from 1874 to 1876.
The Coldwater Weekly Press was established in October, 1877, by B. L. Kingston and J. L. Dennis, and soon after was purchased by D. D. Waggot. This was the first paper to attempt a daily issue, which continued from January I, to March, 15, 1878, when the usual custom was resumed.
Quincy Herald.
The Quincy Herald was first issued November 8, 1878. It was pub- lished by the well known soldier and Quincy citizen, C. V. R. Pond, until June, 1884. at which time it passed to Mr. F. E. Kittredge, and on. April 7, 1888, to Robert J. Stephens. Mr. Stephens conducted it little more than two years, selling to J. C. Joiner on August 22, 1890. Mr. C. W. Owen,
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the present editor and publisher, bought the Herald of Mr. Joiner, October 1. 1894.
The Herald has long been issued as a six-column quarto, has been issued continuously, and is a Quincy paper, devoted to the welfare and in- terests of that village. Complete files of the Herald are preserved in the office, although not bound.
Quincy Newes.
The Quincy Notes was established in 1889. as a weekly. Mr. C. H. Young, the present editor and manager, has been directing head of the paper since its establishment, and he was its founder. In the early part of 1899 the News was improved by being made a twice-a-week newspaper, and its eighth volume as such is now being issued. At first it was published as a six- column quarto, but is now a large seven-column folio. The News Pub- lishing Company is the name of the business corporation publishing the News, but as already said. Mr. Young has always been the leading spirit in the management. No important changes other than those named have occurred to lengthen a historical account of the News. As its history is brief, so its career has been successful.
Quincy Times.
The above are the newspapers still in existence in Quincy. The first paper of that village, however, was the Quincy Times, which was estab- lished September 11. 1868, by R. W. Lockhart. The "Times Company " soon purchased it. Ebenezer Mudge becoming the editor, and his business associates being S. Mowrey and I .. L. Briggs. Mr. A. C. Culver purchased the Times March 25, 1876. The Times was conducted until some time in the eighties. when it yielded the field to its competitor.
The predecessor of the Quincy Herald was the " Greenbacker," which was established in May. 1878. by L .. E. Jacobs. Its existence terminated in October, and shortly after Mr. Pond obtained the material and began the publication of the Herald.
The Literary Reporter was a monthly magazine, established in Decem- ber, 1872, whose publisher was Mr. C. W. Bennett, now of Coldwater.
Bronson Herald.
The first paper published outside of Coldwater, except the Michigan Star at Branch, was the Bronson Herald, which was established in the fall of 1865 by T. Babcock and Company. It suspended publication in 1871 and the proprietors moved the plant to Nebraska.
Bronson Journal.
The Bronson Journal was founded in 1881 by Daniel D. Waggot. In August, 1885, the well known Branch county newspaper man, C. W. Owen, purchased the Journal of D. D. Waggot. In February, 1886, Mr. Owen consolidated his paper with the Bronson Independent, which had been estab-
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lished in 1884 by W. H. Wieand and N. Byron Ruggles, and the paper was conducted as the Independent-Journal for a few months by the firm of Owen and Ruggles. In September, 1886, Mr. Owen bought his partner's interest, changing the name to the Bronson Journal. As such it has since been con- ducted. Mr. Owen sold the Journal in 1889 to Lon E. Draper. In 1894 Mr. Allan D. Shaffmaster, the present editor and proprietor, purchased the paper of Mr. Draper.
SHERWOOD.
The first newspaper established in the village of Sherwood was the Sherwood News. Its career began in 1884 under the direction of A. C. Culver, although previous to this time Maj. D. J. Easton had issued a Sher- wood edition of the Union City Register. Mr. Culver's News continued for two years, and was succeeded by the Sherwood Press, published by Ran- dall & Robinson. The Press was conducted until 1895. Mr. E. S. Easton established the Sherwood Register in 1896 and it is still flourishing. It is a four-column, eight-page paper, with illustrated supplement each week, and faithfully advances Sherwood's interests.
Union City Newspapers.
The history of newspapers in Union City is furnished by Mr. T. F. Robinson, who himself has been connected with the newspaper interests of that village for more than twenty years.
The first newspaper published in Union City was the Union City Inde- pendent, it making its appearance in six-column folio form, October 5, 1867. It was published weekly by A. H. Pattee, but was suspended in 1868.
The Union City Independent was followed by the Union City Register, which first made its appearance as a weekly publication in 1869, the pub- lishers being Major D. J. Easton and Jerome K. Bowen. Major Easton soon became the sole proprietor, and he continued as such until the time of his death, August 27, 1901. Major Easton was for many years a leading spirit in the advancement of the material interests of the town. In his posi- tion as publisher of the sole paper here for an extended period, he had oppor- tunities for doing good work in these lines, and these opportunities he did not neglect. He was also a capable city official for years, and he was in- strumental in securing for the place many of the modern improvements ive now enjoy. After his death the newspaper was continued for several months by his son, Glenn S. Easton, until the sale of the property to F. A. Bement, May 1, 1902.
Randall and Robinson established the Union City Local here in August, 1885. In conjunction with this paper they also published the Sherwood Press, the Tekonsha News and the Burlington Echo. A large business was done until the plant was destroyed by fire in 1894, and then the subscription list was sold to the Union City Register.
May 1, 1896, Tom F. Robinson commenced the publication of Robin- son's Weekly, and in 1899 Will L. Robinson was taken into the business,
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the firm name being Robinson Bros. They continued the publication of the paper until it was merged with the Union City Register as the Register- Weekly, the publisher being Frank A. Bement.
A. T. McCargar and Son purchased the plant and good will of the Register-Weekly in November. 1902. Mr. A. T. McCargar, the senior member of the firm, came here from New York City, where he had been for some years as president and treasurer of the Baldwin & Gleason Company. engravers, lithographers and printers. Mr. Will L. Robinson, whose name now appears as publisher, has had the management of the Register-Weekly since November 1. 1895. May 1, 1906. it was enlarged to a seven-column quarto. On July 20. 1906. it will be enlarged to twelve pages, of seven col- umns each.
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CHAPTER XX.
EDUCATION.
" Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." These words are found in the famous ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest Territory including the region which is now Michigan. A congressional act of 1804, also with reference to what is now Michigan, reserved from sale section 16 of each township " for the support of schools." These acts of the national government were passed before the territory of Michigan was organized, and years before the surveys were made and the boundaries defined for Branch county. But the educational system which the people of this county have used has been provided by the state in so far as the state has undertaken to control the scheme and machinery of educa- tion. A brief glance at the history of education in Michigan will be a proper introduction to a more detailed account of the educational affairs of the county.
The national government took the first steps in providing for educa- tion in Michigan. The sixteenth section of each township granted for the support of schools became, through the efforts of Gen. Isaac E. Crary, Mich- igan's first congressman, a principal source of the State Primary School Fund, which is now a matter of pride to every citizen of the state. It was a wise provision, based on the experience of other states, that turned the proceeds from the sale of school lands into a state fund instead of giving them to the township in which the section was located. Where the latter system prevailed serious inequalities resulted from the fact that the desig- nated section was in many cases inferior land and when sold brought little or nothing to the township treasury. And, also, the management of one large central fund was more economical and subject to less risks than if the money had been left in the many township treasuries. It is unnecessary to go into the history of the Primary School Fund further than to say that it has increased from year to year so that the per capita annual distribution of interest therefrom has more than kept pace with the increase of school population ; so that while in 1845 the amount apportioned among the various schools of Branch county aggregated $596, the November, 1905, distribu- tion alone amounted to $17,563.50, or two dollars and seventy cents per capita.
The school legislation of Michigan while a territory had little bearing on the schools of Branch county, nor, in fact, on those in any other part of the territory. But the legislature in 1827 provided that " every township containing fifty inhabitants or householders should employ a schoolmaster
High School or Lincoln Building, Coldwater, 1905
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of good morals to teach children to read and write and to instruct them in the English language as well as in arithmetic, orthography and decent be- havior." A department of education was also established. at whose head was to be a superintendent of common schools appointed by the governor.
But very little was actually done in the way of public schools previous to the state organization. The first schools in Branch county were the result of voluntary effort on the part of the pioneers. The first settlers came, as we know, largely from the northeastern states, where education was funda- mental and thoroughly a part of every-day life. It was natural. therefore, that whenever half a dozen families within a circle of two or three miles
had secured a comfortable home shelter, the next business in order was to organize a school. A site was selected, a log building erected, and some person in the community who had had exceptional advantages in the east or who professed an ability as pedagogue was employed to conduct the school. And front each home a path was blazed through the forest trees by which the children could find their way to and from the schoolhouse.
The building of this first schoolhouse marked a stage in the history of the community. Almost without exception in this part of the middle west the school was the first institution. It preceded the church, and some- times the first town meeting was held there. It was the central point of the community life. There the settlers met to vote and perform the civil busi- ness : there the questions that confront a new social organization were dis- cussed and solved ; there men and women met for social enjoyment, and there they came together for religious worship. The schoolhouse was the focal point of pioneer life, and its importance cannot be too strongly em- phasized.
The early schoolhouses have often been described. Many were built of logs, some of sawed lumber, while a few were of stone or brick. That the log schoolhouse is something more than a tradition to men and women of Branch county who are still in the prime of life, may be inferred from the fact that as late as 1868 the county superintendent of schools reported five log schoolhouses in use. In the following year he reported that all these had disappeared but one.
While the exterior of the building varied, the interior furnishings were about the same. Built at one end of the room was the mud and stick chim- ney, with the broad fire-place. To keep the fire blazing briskly by a plentiful supply of logs was the task of the older boys, while in the summer some of the girls would often fill the bare hearth space with flowering plants. The rough walls of the room were unadorned except as the individual taste of a teacher might seek to relieve its dreariness; the floors were often of broad. roughly hewn puncheons laid on the ground, or. if the building was of frame, thick boards were spiked to ground sills, with wide cracks between the boards affording an easy escape for pencils, jack-knives and other school- boy impedimenta.
The seats were indeed primitive. They were nothing more than a split log with the flat surface up, and resting on legs driven into holes on the
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under side, or the timber for the seat might be a plank with some attempt at smoothing the top surface. But there were no backs to these benches, and the tired little bodies of pioneer children got no rest except by leaning for- ward: little attention was paid in those days to erectness of carriage. There were no desks in the modern sense of the term. Around two or three sides of the room was fixed a broad board, with a slant convenient for the writer, and on this the pupils, or as many of them as this rough form of desk would accommodate, did their writing and figuring. A piece of slate was used for all calculations, and paper was only used for penmanship exercises.
Of school apparatus there was none. In the report for 1868 above quoted the superintendent says a blackboard was the extent of equipment in most schools, and the blackboard was introduced many years after the pioneers' children had gone from the schools into actual life. Graphite pencils were also unknown. A " pen knife" was then a necessary part of the teacher's equipment for he used that instrument in a way to suggest the name, that is, to manufacture for each scholar a pen from a selected goosequill. Paper was coarse and expensive, and the era of cheap wood- pulp paper tablets did not begin until comparatively recently.
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